Strong winds whistled down Petty Creek canyon near Alberton on Monday night, Jan. 29 causing damage to some property located 11 miles up the road. Alicia Gregory was staying at her parents place when she went outside around midnight and found several lodge pole pine trees had blown down over their barbed wire fence.

Her horse, Pepper, had gotten caught up in the wire and trees and had cuts on his legs and hind end.

“Thankfully it’s nothing Bag Balm, vet wrap and duct tape can’t fix,” she posted on her Facebook page.

Only a couple of the fallen 50-foot lodge pole trees were dead, the rest were living, green trees she said. Pepper is fine but the trees damaged over 40 feet of fencing between theirs and their neighbor’s property. They also had some damage to the roof of their porch.

A few other isolated wind events were reported around the Missoula area, including the barn at a horse rescue facility in Corvallis. According to weather reports the event could have been caused by down sloping winds which occur ahead of a passing cold front. Valleys around the area were reporting wind west to south westerly gusts in the 30 to 50 mph range. The nearby canyons enhanced wind speeds allowing for localized and very isolated damage the report said.